Facilitating teachers’ interdisciplinary teaching through boundary spanning leadership

Interdisciplinary teaching is increasingly adopted globally to enhance students’ competency development, but teachers face various challenges in its implementation. This qualitative study tracked a primary school for nearly 2 years, exploring the boundaries teachers encounter when implementing interdisciplinary theme-based learning and how multiple school leaders promote interdisciplinary theme-based learning implementation. Using the framework of boundary objects and boundary spanning leadership, the study found that principals act as primary boundary spanners, employing strategies such as identifying teachers’ genuine challenges and primary needs, connecting external resources, forming “vanguard teams,” restructuring school structures, building a culture of sharing and setting “hard and soft” evaluation rules. Subject leaders serve as pioneers, demonstrators, and bridges in implementing interdisciplinary theme-based learning, developing school-based interdisciplinary theme-based learning lessons, leading by example, and bridging the gap between interdisciplinary theme-based learning theory and practice. Principals and subject leaders play distinct yet complementary roles in embracing this new curriculum reform, ensuring the sustainable promotion of interdisciplinary teaching among teachers.